Bringing the crack since December 2003

Red Hood and the Outlaws # 6: Friendship. Pantslessness. Zen.

This most recent issue takes place in flashback, and explains how Jason and Kory fell in with each other in the first place. It's my clear favourite of the series so far, not least because I enjoy Josh Williamson's dialogue much, much more than Scott Lobdell's.

It turns out that Kory first met Jason when she hauled him out of the ocean, after one of his missions went wrong. Apparently his clothes were destroyed in the skirmish, because Jason spends most of this issue severely under-dressed. Not that I'm complaining. (Well, I am, but only because S_D's page limit prevents me from demonstrating the sheer extent of it).

After they resolve the misunderstanding, Kory takes him on a tour of her spaceship. She also offers him some clothes to wear - some very, very familiar clothes. Clothes that belonged to her ex-boyfriend, if you get my drift.

Again we see that she *does* remember her past, sometimes in more detail, and sometimes less. (Note: there were suggestions of this in issues 4 & 5 too, and I'm planning to post pages from them soon). Jason's remark in issue 1 about Tamaraneans experiencing humans as "smells" makes a little more sense now too, as Kory seems to be using the scent of Dick's clothes to evoke a memory.

And Jason should stop defining himself by the men he has known, and the costumes that they wore? She's definitely astute. On a page I didn't scan we see other costumes laid out, including the classic green-panties Robin outfit, and something that looks rather like the Discowing suit. I'm not sure where the black suit with the red bat is supposed to have come from, but I'm assuming it must be something that Dick wore at some point during this new continuity. So, that explains why Jason is still wearing the bat symbol - he's dressed up in big brother's clothes yet again!

Jason realises that Kory loves Dick just as much as he (claims) to hate him. He decides then that he's going to have to explain exactly who he is, and who he used to be. They each lay their cards out on the table, and come to the conclusion that they are cool with each other. Kory also gives him one of her trademark knowledge absorbing kisses, and after that she seems to have him pretty much all figured out. It's cute.

Kory weirdly reminds me of Ariel here. Also, she did rescue Jason from drowning. And she's a princess from another wooorld! So, perhaps now Jason is wearing someone else’s costume not because he's trying to assume their identity, so much as to respect the past while living in the present?

As for the relationship between Jason and Kory, well, it's interestingly mostly-platonic. Jason counts Kory as one of his "teachers" in his inner monologue, along with Bruce and Ducra (and presumably Talia as well - dude just never stops with the Freudian undertones, does he?) And also thinks about how he can't tell the difference between romance and friendship when it comes to her. I don't think Kory sees Jason in romantic terms at all, although she acknowledges some attraction to him because he superficially reminds her of Dick. If this situation were any different I'd say "ouch," but it honestly doesn't seem that Jason wants anything more from Kory than the friendship and the guidance that she's offering.

tl;dr: Please write the dialogue for this title for ever, Josh Williamson.

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